Kimiko
by SunChariot
Summary: The girl with no equal. That was what her name meant. And it was the truth. Not in battle, not in friendship, and certainly not in life.


**Hey! Um, well this is my first ever story and I hope it's okay :) So R&R and enjoy! Thanks!**

It was after the first exam of the Chuunin exams. The stressful, stressful written test that the weird scarred guy put him up for was not Shikamaru's favorite activity. Actually, here's a little secret: Shikamaru fell asleep during the test except for the last question, which really raised his blood pressure up high.

Shikamaru lay in the fields now, away from the darn city, away from all the noise (and away from Naruto). He looked upon the clouds above his head. How free they were. How… untroubled. They float and cause no trouble. He wished he could be like them.

Sometimes, he drifts off in that field, wondering what it's like to do nothing at all (when in fact he is doing nothing at all) and what it's like to have no worries, no war, no violence. It's all too much to deal with. Too much stress is not good for the human soul. Or the mind. Both, whatever.

He began on thoughts of why violence existed, when a rather large shadow blocked the sun. Shikamaru looked up, and saw Akamaru, Kiba's pet dog. He wasn't so pleased when the darn dog licked his half his face and covered it with slobber. Slobber takes a long, long time to wipe off your face without a towel or water, and he just so happened to not be by either one. Oh, good.

"Shikamaru! The Hokage sent me to fetch you." Kiba's loud proclamation did not exactly send Shikamaru in high spirits. In fact, it kind of made him not want to go back to the city.

"What? Why all this trouble?"

"Because you're supposed to meet someone at the gate. Everyone else is busy trying getting ready for the Chuunin exams."

"What about you? You could do it." He dug his hands into his drawn-back hair.

"The hokage wanted you to do it. I don't know. All I know is, when you get back, I'm gonna train for the Chuunin exams." Kiba scratched his head, stretched his arms up and turned his torso halfway around, trying to see if anyone was approaching the two lonely people and his dog.

"You sound like Naruto."

"He wants to be Hokage."

"Same thing. Blah blah blah. Okay, I'm coming. Who does he want me to meet?" Shikamaru slowly got up on his feet and gave a salute to the sky, shielding his eyes from the sun.

"Some ninja. I don't know!"

"You stress me out."

"No problem." Kiba stretched an arm around Shikamaru's shoulders and the two friends and the dog started walking back to the busy city.

"Women are scary."

"I know that."

"So why don't you pick up this chick?"

"I told you why already."

"No, you haven't."

"Yes, I have."

"No, you haven't."

"Yes… I have."

"Stop it."

"Stop it."

"Stop doing that, Kiba."

"Stop doing that, Shikamaru. There she is, see you later!"

"I'm gonna to skin your dog!" Shikamaru shouted after the running ninja.

He looked over to the gate of the city, and there she was. Long black hair pulled into a messy ponytail and her headband was wrapped around her left thigh. Green eyes and soft lips adorned her face as she looked upon her escort.

"Am I supposed to bring you to our Hokage?"

"Hm." She looked downright bored to be there, but it wasn't completely obvious. Being a master of the uninterested, Shikamaru could see her passiveness.

"Alrighty, then. Let's get you to the office."

They walked in complete silence, which was absolutely fine with both of them. He glanced over at her once, and found her looking at the Hokage Mountain, all the while dodging the passing people. A good talent, he decided, one he should take up on learning. He also found that she wore a similar outfit to Ino, but in a slightly less … provocative (yes, that was the word) way.

They arrived at the office, where Shikamaru stopped and opened the door for her. She glanced at him, and murmured small thanks. He nodded and watched her climb the steps up the building. Her hair swayed side to side quite smoothly, as he caught a sniff of her scent. Raspberries.

Knocking on the door sounded through the Hokage's office. He glanced up and eyed the door.

"Come in, young lady."

The door opened and a young teen stepped into the room. Her green eyes stayed glued to the floor while she nodded her head to address the great ninja.

"I've read that you are quite the admirable Genin. Kimiko, is it? The child without equal. Indeed, you are." He looked at her, studying her posture.

"Thank you, Master Hokage."

"Why, is it that your village gave up such a talented child? I am curious." He set down her papers, laced his fingers and leaned towards her.

She looked up at him, and he was slightly shocked to see a stoic expression on her face.

"Ask my parents. They're the ones who sold me." Her voice held neither sadness nor anger. She had somehow mastered her emotions, silenced them.

"Well, perhaps I shall, should I have the chance to meet them. Now, I understand you wish to participate in our Chuunin exams?" He cleared his throat and resumed going over her papers.

"Yes sir. I would very much like to take part in the exams. It's what I was brought here for." She gave up a small smile at the thought of the tournament.

"Well, since you came rather late in them, we will just put you with the rest of the students after the second exam. You'll be participating in the one-on-one fights. Will that be alright?"

"Yes sir. That is particularly what I was looking forward to. Thank you, sir!" Her green eyes began to sparkle a bit and her posture slightly began to straighten.

"Young lady, you have no need to call me sir. You could, if you truly and desperately wished, render me useless right this second." The smile in his eyes slightly faded away, as he stated his last sentence, as did hers.

"I would never, as you were the one who took me in from the streets. I would never dream of it." Her tone of voice descended down to a monotonous manner.

"Well, then. I have arranged your apartment in the city, and I will ensure that the money your parents made on selling you is the amount you have in your bank. You're quite lucky they decided to market you in the high end in your city."

"Yes, that was the lucky part. Thank you, Master Hokage. When will the tournament begin?"

"Well, the first part of the test has just ended. They're on their way to go to the forest for the second exam, so why don't you wait at the top of the tower in the middle of the forest while the exams take place? It's a thirty-six hour test, so you'll just be spending time with the ninjas that are overseeing the exam."

"That sounds quite nice, thank you. I will get up there immediately." She took a small bow and started out of the room.

"Oh, and Kimiko? Don't observe the other genin while you're up there. It wouldn't be fair."

She gave a half-smile. "Of course."

Genma Shiranui. The biggest flirt she had ever come within ten feet of. With his bandanna and his little senbon sticking out of his mouth, he may have thought he was the biggest hotshot around.

Kimiko was not impressed. She was twelve. He was twenty-eight. 'Pervy pedophile', she called him under her breath.

Although, throughout the entire second exam, she kept her eye on this Gaara character. He was an interesting one. She wanted to see that gourd up close. Actually, him and this dark haired fellow called 'Sasuke'. He seemed to have a particular connection to Orichimaru. Interesting.

When the second exam ended, Neji was exhausted. His team was greeted by Genma Shiranui, who seemed a little rushed. Unlike his regular cool appearance, he spoke quickly to them and led them to the next part of the exams.

Since there were too many of them left over, battles were to take place immediately. Nonsense, he thought. Much too troublesome, especially after the jungle they all just went through.

When he entered the small stone stadium, along with the other Genin, he spotted someone he had never seen before, up on the balcony, watching them come in. She was talking softly with Hatake Kakashi, who had seemed to take an interest in her personality. If someone had caught the eye of Hatake Kakashi, they should be one to watch out for. They were avidly talking about something – or someone – up there, and it seemed to be one of the contenders in the Chuunin exams, as they often glanced at the bottom level of the stadium.

Neji focused a small part of his attention to the toady sick person who was talking about some pre-exam battles, to cancel out half the Genins.

Oh, what? Who was Kimiko? And why was she against one of the Genins down here? Neji thought she would have been better than all of the Genins down where he was. Guess not. She was against some random Genin from the Leaf, no matter. He would just have to pay attention to what her battle techniques were.

Kimiko patiently waited throughout the exams, closely investigating each and every winner of the battles. She was right in her previous assumptions, these two boys, Sasuke and Gaara, were very impressive. Also quite impressive was this little animal boy called Naruto. Quite imaginative, he was.

Soon, it came to her match. She focused on her opponent. A little boy who was no taller than five feet stood before her. His name was… was… well, she didn't know his name but it didn't matter. Once the toady man began the match, the little boy shocked her a little by growing spikes all over his body. They seemed to be metal, as if he had metal implanted in himself when he stopped growing. He must have some kind of regenerative ability; before he had no scars anywhere.

The little boy actually took one of his spikes out of his skin and gripped it in his hand. She narrowed her eyes, and stared at him. He stopped moving.

Then, everyone turned to observe him. He seemed to be crying a little bit, at first. But, then he began to absolutely bawl and scream and he started to claw at his own metallic spikes. He fell to his knees and cried out for his mother.

Kimiko slowly walked towards him and pinched him on the shoulder, near the neck. Immediately, he stopped crying and just flopped down on his side. Well, his spikes drove into the ground, and he just lay there on top of them. She unwrapped his hand from the spike he was holding, took it, and calmly walked out.

"Erm… winner, Kimiko!"

Absolutely everyone was confused. Nobody knew what had just happened, except for the Hokage, who had been watching silently. Even Shikamaru, the unknown genius, had no inkling of how she just made him cry in pain. Did she have a secret Sharingan? Could it be possible to have a jutsu that caused pain by eye contact? Strangely, this puzzle seemed to stay in Shikamaru's mind, as other ones have simply been cast out as "too troublesome". He had to find out what was up with this chick and he had to find out fast because he might have to face this girl in the future.

And it seemed as if all of his friends were thinking the same thing.

She sat silently in her room, examining the spike she extracted from the boy. It seemed to be made of a very hard metal, as she could cut through most of the things in her room with it, including her stove, her iron, and even her own shiruken. It will be useful, she decided.

Suddenly, she heard a bang on her front door. The sand boy was here. She grabbed the metal spike and slowly walked out into her living room, where she saw the red-headed boy.

"What did you do to that boy?" he quietly demanded.

Kimiko stayed silent. She wasn't about to reveal her family jutsu on a whim.

"What did you do?" he took a step closer.

"Are you close with that boy?" she questioned. He looked a little surprised, but then furrowed his brow.

"I'm not close with anyone." He said.

"Then I don't have to tell you anything." She gripped the spike.

"I refuse to leave until you tell me what you can do." He sat criss-cross on the floor of her living room, crossed his arms and stared at her with his teal eyes.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll do the same to you that I did to that boy?" she took a step closer and kneeled down to his height and stared him in the eyes.

"No."

"Oh, so you think your demon will protect you from everything?" He blinked.

"How did you know about my demon?"

"So I was right. You are a jinkurichi." She stood up and looked down on him. He looked to his left.

"I'll show you what I can do." She slowly walked up to him, close enough so that he could feel her breathing on him. She reached down and gently took his hand and raised it up to their faces. She took her spike and drew a line on his finger, _drawing blood_. She released his hand, but it stayed up due to Gaara's shock. His blood had never been drawn before. How? _How?_

"Well, stay as long as you like, but I won't offer any food or bedding. Have a nice night." She turned around on her heel and left the room. He stared after her. How could she know from just looking that he was a jinkurichi? How could she have possibly cut him? What was next? He shook his head and leaned himself against a wall, ready to stay up the whole night.

Kimiko went back in her room and released the spike. The edges had cut her hand in two places; she had gripped it so hard. He was a jinkurichi. A real-life jinkurichi. And she had an inkling, that from the battles, that the blonde one was one too.

But not the black-haired one, Sasuke. He was special. And he would be trouble, if she ever got into a battle with him.

In the morning, Gaara felt a little groggy. He sat up from his slumped position on the floor. He felt strangely good. He felt … _refreshed._ How? How was this possible?

He had just slept for the first time since he was two years old.

Who was this girl? How did she subdue Shukaku? Even he had a hard time doing that.

He stood suddenly, but then got a head rush. Was that what it felt like after sleeping? So… groggy, so uncoordinated! He wavered over to another room, where he found Kimiko boiling water and chopping something on her counter. She turned and gave him a small smirk.

"Have a nice night, jinkurichi?" He snapped his head towards her. She was taunting him.

"I…" His hands found a chair while his eyes stayed closed, blinded by the sunlight in the morning. He sat down at her kitchen table and put his head in his hands.

"I'll take that as a yes. Would you like some tea?" She placed a couple of tea bags in the water.

"What… what did you do to me?" He kept his eyes closed and rubbed his temples.

"I'll take that as yes as well. Last night, I let you sleep. Is that a problem?" She turned and pulled a mirror out of one of her kitchen drawers. She walked over to him and handed him the mirror.

"See, you even look better." _What?_

He looked in the mirror, and he was shocked to find that he did, in fact, look healthier. The darkness around his eyes had somewhat disappeared. Some color came to his cheeks as he stared at his reflection.

"Is this really me?" He traced the outlines of his eyes.

"Yes. Unfortunately, I can only do so much." She rested her hand on his shoulder and his head snapped to her face, his forehead burrowed in anger and his eyes wide with shock.

"What? Why? Why can't you make this permanent? Why can't you repeat last night?" He demanded.

"Subaku no Gaara, I cannot cure you. I'm sorry." She walked to her stove and observed her boiling tea.

"Why can't you just let me sleep?" He whispered these words with only a pain he knew. A pain of insomnia.

She straightened her back at his words and turned to face him. "I did! Well, I can't expect you to remember that I did because you _were_ sleeping! I gave you a night of peace and this is what you give in return? It's no wonder your siblings are so scared of you. I see them cower in the shadows when you walk by. And for what? For keeping you company all your life? For serving as peacemakers? For making sure you didn't turn into the monster inside you?"

He suddenly stood and with a flick of his wrist, he flung her small table to the opposite wall, destroying it. He stared at it for a while and then turned to her. She was carefully watching his face now, not afraid but curious.

"If you're going to do that, then I would prefer you do it in my backyard. Besides, you should spend today peacefully." She turned back around and poured the tea into two separate cups. She took one and offered one to Gaara. He looked on her hand with flaming green eyes.

"No, today will never end." He spun around and she could hear him quickly stomping down and out of her house. She sighed and quickly chugged the tea in her hand and dumped out the second cup in her plant.

**I hope you liked that! Basically, I'm trying out this new kind of plot where this girl comes in and makes friends with everyone! I'm not sure if there's gonna actually be any romance in the story... but if you wanna see any with her, then just let me know in a review! :)**

**Well, I haven't started on the second chapter, so it might take a while to get it up cause I take a long time to write. **

**So bear with me, please! **

**Thanks ;) (also R&R, please!)**


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